Starry Nights and Green Lights
by haialyy
Summary: One might think that on a cold night in September, most students would be inside enjoying their feast, chatting up on the latest gossip of who was going with who or their summer adventures, filling themselves with the satisfaction of being with friends again, whispering the news of the wizarding worlds darkest enemy, and keeping warm around their common room fires.
1. Chapter 1

Introduction

One might think that on a cold night in September, most students would be inside enjoying their feast, chatting up on the latest gossip of who was going with who or their summer adventures, filling themselves with the satisfaction of being with friends again, whispering the news of the wizarding worlds darkest enemy, and keeping warm around their common room fires. One might think that was the case, but apparently a few six year Gryffindors had forgotten all about poor Lily Evans and hadn't noticed the flash of red hair disappearing around the Great Hall's door in an attempt to get away from the hushed whispers, the pitiful looks and the affectionate pats on her small shoulders when one passed by. Perhaps it was a relief to her friends to not have to watch her sink back and fade into nothingness, for they were enjoying their _happy _friends company and making one after another after another bottle of butterbeer disappear.

Possibly everybody in the entire school knew that the arrogant chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team was absolutely, hopelessly in love with the muggleborn, and had been since that one winter day in their forth year when the snow came down very delicately and stuck to Lily's red hair and dark eyelashes, making the tip of her nose and cheeks flustered when the wind came down and left biting kisses on the fourteen year old. That was the day realized that for a skinny, strong willed, fourteen year old muggleborn witch, Lily Evans was exceptionally beautiful, and would become even more so with age.

Lily definitely begged to differ at this point.

Her soft curls were falling out of it's knot on the back of her head, her skin was pale from hardly any sunshine, and red rings had formed around the used-to-be-emerald eyes that now lacked their normal fire, and had turned almost gray over time. Even as a complete mess, Lily Evans was still, and always would be, an exceptionally beautiful witch.

Later that evening in the common room, the walls would illuminate and die down with the flickering flames, and the Gryffindors joined in another drunken ballad of folk songs written by (what Sirius called) "incredibly firewhiskey intoxicated wizards" lead by the Marauders themselves (Remus wouldn't have it, he rarely had half a bottle of firewhiskey while most others had splurged on two or three, and plopped down in the chair in the corner of the room, nibbling on his chocolate and reviewing his oh-so-fascinating charms text book.)

Mary McDonald had found Lily on the way back to the common room, to which Lily was grateful, because she really did not want to walk in a complete bloody disaster and have more pitiful looks from students that she knew really didn't care all that much. So, her friend graciously sat out of the celebratory passing of the bottles with Lily, and went to bed early with her. A few more choruses from a song about Odo, ("_And Odo the hero, they bore him back home, to the place that he'd known as a lad, they laid him to rest with his hat inside out, and his wand snapped in two, which was sad,") _the party eventually died out, and the students made their way quietly up to their dorms, and collapsed into bed.

But what does any of this have to do with Lily, the problems the wizarding world was facing at the time, or what kind of student would want to spend their first day of term with a hangover? This is where most of their troubles begin, Lily had already had a terrible summer, with her father dead, her best friend gone, and the dangers she and her family faced, and she would have a rather strange year. James Potter would lose something important to him momentarily, Remus Lupin would be betrayed, Severus Snape would face troubles and pressure, and the rest the school and wizarding world would become shocked by the seriousness of the war, and the lives endangered at the hand of Voldemort.


	2. Too Pale

Chapter 1- Too Pale

Beads of sweat rolled down her face and bare back as the shower was still steaming hot. Lily was constantly cold, and taking an extremely hot shower at six in the morning, when the showers weren't preoccupied by half awake students, when the sun was barely peeking over the land, and when Lily was able to have peace and quiet to think, was the only reason she was prepared to do this for the year.

If she got any sleep at all, she'd still wake up in the early mornings and boil herself in the shower, humming melancholy tunes and washing her hair with vanilla scented shampoo twice. If there was any pet peeves Lily had, it was dirty hair. Ironic that her ex-best friend had probably never heard of soap in his life, right? She shivered-not because she was cold- just thinking about it. _Mudblood, Lily, that's all you are to him now. _

It is never fun crying on the shower floor.

Finally deciding to get out and begin her day, she wrapped the white towel around her torso and stared at the reflection in the mirror. For a redhead, she didn't have as many freckles as Arthur Weasley did, but she had enough to make her look youthful, but she had the bone structure to make her look mature. And that's what she was. Mature. Lily had always been rather skinny, but in fifth year her proportions balanced out, and now she looked model material.

Exceptionally beautiful.

Another fifteen minutes, her hair was dry, and she let it flow naturally. Parted to the side, wavy, and down to her waist. Leaning over, she splashed her face with cold water and applied makeup to hide the darkness of her eyes, and make her eyelashes longer.

Lily had never really worn much makeup, for she hadn't the need to. All she needed was her smile, which she had been lacking even _that _lately.

At 6:57, the world seemed to play into motion.

"It's my turn to shower, Price, you take forever!" came the voice of Donna Shacklebolt, and the lavatory dorm opened, revealing the tall, sleepy, dark skinned witch. "Oh, hey, ginger," her voice had dropped into a little more than a whisper, and Lily could practically taste the sympathy in her voice. "Done with the shower?"

"Yeah, I'm done," answered Lily, her voice quiet, and accompanied by a nod of her head. She smiled, although her eyes didn't crinkle when she did so. Not completely sincere, but not fake either. She was glad she had Donna. The taller of the two smiled best she could in return. "Morning, doll, go get some breakfast." And with that, Lily left the lavatory and joined the all _very _hungover sixth year Gryffindor girls in their dorm room.

"Morning, Lily!" Marlene greeted enthusiastically, giggling and brushing her blonde hair out of its tangles. "How long have you been up?" Lily smiled at her best mate's early morning enthusiasm- it seemed Marlene and Lily alike were the only ones who enjoyed being up to greet the sun when it came around. "Five forty-five. Wanted to get an early start for the first day. And I want to pick up my prefects pages before breakfast so I wouldn't miss," she explained to her friend, who nodded in understanding. "Well, do you want me to walk you down there?" Mary asked, "I took my shower last night."

Mary was shorter but had long legs, tan skin, and a slender body. Her lips were shaped perfectly and her eyes were like bright blue orbs, complemented well by her long, dark brown hair. She was already dressed in her uniform like Lily, except her tie was still undone, to which Lily had always had to tie herself for her friend, for Mary never quite got the hang of it.

The redhead smiled. "No, that's alright. You head down to breakfast," to which the brunette agreed. At 7:13, Lily walked out of the Gryffindor and into the heart of Hogwarts.

This summer had been the worst Lily had ever had in her life.

Sure, her father was dead, her family was struggling financially, Petunia had eloped and moved out and wouldn't speak to her, and she hadn't a best friend to talk to at that matter, but it wasn't just any of that that made her summer particularly dreadful- it was the longing.

Lily longed for something she didn't even know, a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't put a name to. Thinking back, she didn't remember the waltzes around the coffee table on her father's toes, the butterfly kisses in the morning, the bedtime stories at night, and her father's consoling words in times of discomfort until it had been taken away so suddenly.

She hadn't known her father was sick.

_Hadn't known._

_ William Evans died on May 17, 1975 at 8:35 a.m..._

Lily hadn't known there were angry tears washing her cheeks until she hastily pushed them away. She prayed she hadn't passed anybody without realising and they noticed her vulnerability.

If ever there was a good morning to go running, _it was today. _James was grinning stupidly at the rush he always felt after an hour long run in the morning, and the cold showers he took to cool off afterward. At 7:04, he stood fully clad in his Hogwarts uniform, and cried cheerfully, "Get up, lazy bums, or you'll miss breakfast!" (This was directed to Sirius, Peter and Adam McKinnon-their fifth dorm mate-, for Remus was already up and about, who, much like Lily, enjoyed an early start and decided to get his prefect rounds before breakfast had even been put out.

Sirius groaned loudly into his pillow, sitting up. It took him a moment to register that the sun was shining directly into his face-Sirius was known to get incredibly drunk- and he yelped and stood, clad only in his plaid boxers and black socks.

"You might want to wear clothes if you're going down so early," remarked Peter, as Sirius had opened the dorm door instead of the lavatory and was almost ready to make his way downstairs and out into the world.

"Don't spoil the fun, mate, Padfoot can go streaking if he fancies," James joked. Sirius shut the door and then proceeded to make his way into the right door. At 7:25, both Sirius and Peter had showered and dressed, and were ready to start their school year with a plate of eggs, bacon and toast. They met Remus at the table and sat down with him. "Daily Prophet, front cover," Remus started, simply skimming through the topics that would interest his mates most, as they had always done in their school years. "The Chudley Cannons gained a new member, pureblood Vincent Hammerson, youngest member in nearly fifty years..." he read in a bored tone more Quidditch reports for the Gryffindor captains sake, then turned to look at the missing witch and wizard reports.

"Muggleborn Alexis Harding, Muggleborn Jack Abbott, Muggleborn Rose Screwings..." and he proceeded with a list of more than ten muggleborns who had disappeared in the past week. James shook his head. If anything angered him more about this war, was the fact that hardly any of the witches and wizards went missing ever showed up again. Most of the ones confirmed dead were never actually released to the public, leaving already devastated families without any closure.

Alexander Potter worked for the Ministry in finding missing witches and wizards.

James grunted and pushed his plate away when he was finished- the thought of his father sickened him sometimes, but the words the came back in the soft voice of his mother always softened him up a bit. "_Now James, he's your father, and he works very hard at what he does...All you can do is console the families who are grieving, protect those in danger, and love those who are discriminated." _

At that thought, he looked around the crowded Great Hall for the flash of red hair. He had heard the news, knew the danger the girl and her family face, and wanted to take his mother's advice in consoling the girl, protecting her in these times of trouble- and his main goal in life- to love her, and get her to love him back.

James' heart sunk when he found she wasn't at breakfast either, and excused himself from the Marauders in an attempt to search for her. He took long strides and eventually found her entering the uninhabited library, and his heart sunk-if possible- even more.

"Evans," he said, silently making his way behind the girl, who jumped in response and stood again, turning to face the chaser. "Potter... you scared me," she said, short of breath at the sudden rush of fear.

James nodded, frowning. "I'm sorry-" Lily nodded. "Why weren't you at breakfast?"

Lily looked at him, eyes flickering for an excuse. "I wanted to study my prefect rounds and class schedule for a moment, so I know what books to carry before lunch."

James again nodded. "Look, Evans, I heard about what happened..." _Hell, who didn't? _she thought to herself. _More pitiful looks, and from James bloody Potter as well? _"I know you and I aren't... exactly friends...but know that I am sorry, and you have me and a lot of people on your side."

Lily nodded, not really listening. Her heart was pounding dangerously, she had gone two shades paler in the last thirty seconds, and hot tears were again biting at the insides of her eyes. "Thank you," came her answer in a small, quiet voice in the most polite manner she had possibly ever used on _James Potter._

"You should eat, you look..." he stopped himself before saying 'too thin', for he had learned from his mother to never say a girl was 'too thick' or 'too thin', and he settled for, "pale. You look pale."

Lily gave a half hearted smile and nodded. "I will."

_Too pale. _


	3. Chapter 2-Romeo and Juliet

Chapter 3- Romeo and Juliet

For a week the weather varied from being sunny, windy, chilly and rainy, and then for a few more days it continued to storm wildly, and at night, if you were laying down still enough, you could feel the Gryffindor tower swaying ever so slightly back and forth.

Marlene had never been on a Quidditch team, but she was a fantastic player (the fact that she was smaller helped her fly faster, there are some perks to being short and little.) If there was one thing Marlene could handle, it was a broom. If there was one thing she couldn't handle, was seasickness. So, when she lied awake in the middle of the night while the rain washed the stained glass window, leaving the beautiful witch of red and blue crying, Marlene's mind travelled miles away, and soon she was thinking about laying down in a small boat on the ocean while it was pouring down rain.

Getting sick was something Marlene couldn't handle as well.

She stood up quickly but quietly, (again, there are perks to being little,) clad in a peach silk nightgown to which she covered up with a cloth robe her mother had given her for Christmas three years back. Sure, it wasn't anything to look at, but if anybody were awake in the common room for they too felt like the were on a sinking boat, she'd much rather them see her in a torn bathrobe than the skimpy lingerie most of the older students wore at night.

Marlene carefully grabbed her wand with the tip of her pink painted fingers and tiptoed away from her dorm mates bed. She did this as quietly as she could, for she shared a bed next to Lily and she was a very light sleeper, and at this point, Marlene knew the prefect needed all the sleep she could get. Once she had managed to slip by Mary McDonald, who was sleeping upside down in her bed, Alice Longbottom, who was completely hidden by her blankets, and Donna Shacklebolt, who was snoring rather loudly (the girls had all grew accustomed to this, even Lily could sleep over the noise,), she slipped out the dorm door, and down the stairs.

If there was anything better to do for a headache, it was sipping on a late night bottle or two of butterbeer, curling up by the fire, and reading Romeo and Juliet. She only knew about this book because Lily had read it in fourth year and gave it to Marlene to borrow, for Lily raved about the beautifully tragic story so much, Marlene grew tired of hearing it and decided to see for herself.

Turns out, Lily was right.

By fifth year, Marlene had read it three times cover to cover, and had even gone with Lily to see a play of it at a muggle convention in the summer. She could quote her favorite lines by heart, and even decided that if she ever had a daughter, her name would be Juliet. See, Marlene had always been one for the dramatics. She loved peoples reactions to things, loved stirring up a little bit of trouble from time to time, and loved a good sob story. This is how she got her way in most things, for Marlene knew how to convince, how to react, and how to break a few hearts.

_It was rainy day in third year in the middle of April, and Marlene sat on the stone steps of Hogwarts, the only place she could find solitude for a moment. When it came down to it, as much as Marlene loved being the social butterfly she was, she loved solitude as equally. At least here, nobody would see the redness of her eyes, the hot tears that burned her cheeks, or the shaking of her shoulders. Nobody would hear her over the pitter-patter-pitter of the rain. Or so she thought. "I heard about what happened," came a boys voice from behind her, and she smiled a little into her hands. Adam McKinnon. They'd been (for the most part) best mates since they stepped on the train in first year, when they knew nobody. However, they had known one another when they were crawling around on the floor, but it wasn't until they were completely on their own that they clung to one another. Whenever things got bad now, whenever Donna called her an obnoxious slag, whenever Lily was too busy befriending Severus, and whenever Mary wouldn't listen to Marlene's say in things because she had a new boyfriend to talk about, Marlene turned to Adam, who always had a shoulder to cry on, who always held her with the softest caress, spoke with the kindest word, and had a smile that warmed her insides instantly. This time, it had been big. "Marlene, you don't deserve that," Adam said very quietly and seriously, sitting down beside her. "I told you he was a git, I'm sorry I didn't hex him while I had the chance." At this, Marlene laughed. "Nobody deserves to be cheated on, especially you," he offered. Marlene looked up and rested her head on his shoulder, and he responded instantly by wrapping his arm around her small shoulders. Adam had always loved Marlene-Marlene had always very deeply loved Adam, although she didn't realize it until that day, when he spoke softly, offered her comfort and a place to hide from the world-right there in her best mate's caress, and ever since then, her liking for Adam McKinnon boiled in the pit of her stomach, and if possible, they clung to one another even more, although neither of them realized their feelings were returned. _

"Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek for that which thou hast heard me speak tonight. Fain would I dwell on form. Fain, fain deny what I have spoke. But farewell compliment! Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'ay,' and I will take thy word. Yet if thou swear'st thou mayst prove false. At lover's perjuries, they say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, if thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won, I'll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, so thou wilt woo. But else, not for the world. In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond, and therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light, but trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true than those that have been more strange, I must confess, but that thou overheard'st, ere I was 'ware, my true love's passion. Therefore pardon me, and not impute this yielding to light love, which the dark night hath so discovered."

When Marlene had to choose what her favorite line of the entire book was, she always chose this passage. She thought it interesting that she were speaking to Romeo about her love, but didn't know he was listening. Sometimes, she would whisper and think of her love for Adam, and wonder if he was listening.

"Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow, that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-"

"What are you doing up?" rang a familiar voice in her head, to which she smiled. Adam McKinnon.

"I couldn't sleep, the tower is swaying with the storm," she said, and the storm agreed by a flash of lightning. Adam simply smiled. "Reading that book again? I thought you knew the entire thing by heart," he joked. Marlene felt the heat in her cheeks, and knew she must have been blushing, and her heart beat hard against her ribcage. She grinned stupidly. "I know quite a lot of it, yes, but it was the only book I had with me-" _lies, she had plenty of books- _"-and I wanted to read. Maybe it would get me to go to sleep. What are you doing up?"

Adam smiled, "I don't like storms all that much."

Marlene giggled, remembering this fact. She remembered when they were little, when storms scared both of them, they'd hug each other and stay as far away from the window as possible, without letting one another go until it was over. Fortunately, Marlene had grown (for the most part) out of that fear, while Adam had not.

For another hour or two they talked like only they could. Marlene could chatter for days about gossip with her dorm mates, but this was a different kind of talk. This was true, down-to-earth talk that did not involve who was sleeping with who at the time. Adam was friends with the Marauders, but the Marauders had their own secret language with one another to which Adam was not a part of, and sometimes he felt a little left out, but he was a quiet lad anyways.

If anyone could get him to talk, it was Marlene.


End file.
